Lose gain, lose gain, then found success?

Three decades of yo-yo do you?

I finally threw out every single thing I thought I knew, everything the mass media and diet schemes and celebs and friends and journey articles tell you ...no food restrictions, food Devils, food timing, superfoods, supplements

I focused on calories only ...weighed everything, logged everything accurately, double checking

Moved more in general, lunch walks, dog walks, nipping to the shops - walk no car

Started to work out - with weights, felt sore ..do it anyway...tried classes and didn't go if didn't enjoy ...kept it up 3 X a week until it became something I need to do

Kept to my calorie defecit across the week

Batch cook at weekend..eat to support my life and enjoyment ensure I get adequate protein and fats

Gradually built up my knowledge because I was interested ...learned from reading some amazing people on here who made me think, challenged my understanding, always brought it back to the science with sources...learned to avoid people who speak from "feels" or "belief systems" that cannot be substantiated

Learned about water weight and natural fluctuations

Trend trackers, fitness toys and delicious data and spreadsheets

53lbs lost in under a year, a year in maintenance ..I'm fitter, healthier and my body rocks ...and not just for a 48 year old mother of 2 ...it rocks in general

I believe I have found success. I am maintaining my weight - for the first time in my life; now it's been over 15 months - quite effortlessly, not entirely, but quite.

I had to be "force fed" as a child, I didn't really care for food, and eating interrupted my activities. Through adolescence and into adulthood, I never thought about adjusting portions to suit my more sedentary and grown body. I was always perplexed by how little other people ate, but I didn't connect that with me being a bit heavier than I liked, and I believed I had to eat that much, because I could. I was also convinced that that was my "natural" weight. Yeah, I know - now.

Eating a bit too much wouldn't have been such a big deal if what I ate, hadn't changed into more and more junk. But the calorie density, coupled with lack of nutrition, and the cravings it created, was a downward spiral, as my weight went up. All I wanted was to stuff myself with more and more, cookies, chips, chocolate, candy, ice cream... everything.

The situation was aggravated by bad advice. It makes me sad and angry that the bad advice in my case didn't just come from woman's magazines or ads for supplements, but from the government. I live in Norway, but we have much of the same recommendations as you, including low fat and high fiber. My mother had bought that, and I did too. I believed that fat was just empty calories at first, then I learned that fat caused heart disease, cancer and diabetes. I didn't want any of that, so I tried as best as I could to stick to it. But I couldn't. I need taste, and low fat/high fiber is tasteless to me. It didn't occur to me to look at alternatives, because I thought I knew what I needed to know about nutrition - the problem was that I was just well informed about the government's nutritional guidelines. I didn't dare to challenge that on purpuse, but I turned to junk because I desperately needed some flavor. I felt so miserable, because of my poor diet, and because I couldn't do what I wanted to do and believed to be important.

In 2006, I figured I needed to lose some weight - around 40 pounds, to get to a healthy weight and be able to fit into normal clothes sizes. I followed a regime very close to the government guidelines, and it worked, I lost the weight I wanted, exercised, and was happy. But then life came. Ice cream? NO! I don't want any of that! Why are you tempting me! OK, give me. You don't want the rest of yours? I'll take it! Oh - chips! Yum!

2013, and now I had 45 pounds to lose. I started the same regime again, lost some weight, was happy. But I also started reading up on nutrition, psychology, marketing, food manufacturing, physiology, sociology. I found MFP, used the tools, worked on changing my attitudes and habits, started to think and eat and move like a slim person. The freedom and accountability MFP offered, was so liberating. Reading about what other people had figured out, made me understand more about myself. I started to learn what really worked for me, and what didn't. I experimented with different macro splits. Taught myself some strategies. Tried new foods.

My "food rules" are completely different now. They are mine, not imposed on me by others. I like them. They work. I want to follow them. They give me the structure I need, but are not so strict that they crumble if I can't follow tham all the time. Some of them:
Four meals a day, no eating beteen meals.
Drinks are water, black tea and coffee.
A meal has as a minimum vegetables, protein and fat (preferably a naturally fatty source of protein). Then fill up on starch. Dinner is starch, protein, veg, or soup+dessert. Fruit for every meal except dinner (unless as dessert). A serving of nuts every day.
I cook most of my meals from scratch. I only eat what I like. I eat normal food.
I aim for variety and avoiding waste. I meal plan so that I can have both.
I eat anything I want, but not everything at once, and not all the time.
Food should taste good, but not too good.
Mainly choose food that makes me feel full after I've eaten, not even more hungry.
I'm supposed to feel hungry before I eat. (That even makes eating more enjoyable.)
Full doesn't mean stuffed, but pleasantly satisfied.